


Off Balance

by ZadieWrites



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Food Poisoning, Gen, Graphic Descriptions of Vomit, I hope someone else needs to read this as much as I needed to write it, Mostly Gen, Not really hurt/comfort because Merlin doesn’t do much comforting but it has the Vibe, Sickfic, So this is just a fic where Arthur gets food poisoning, Unexpectedly soft at the end, Vomiting, i didn’t intend for it to be gen but here we are, oh and also there’s a recurring joke about parasites if that kind of thing bothers you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:14:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26326213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZadieWrites/pseuds/ZadieWrites
Summary: Arthur must have eaten something off because now he was spending the entire day getting sick. Merlin is a snarky but well-meaning servant. This is a fic in which Arthur gets food poisoning and has to deal with it, and consequently, Merlin does too.
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	Off Balance

**Author's Note:**

> This is really self indulgent but basically I got sick recently and it gave me ideas. I don’t know, maybe the image of our warrior on his knees throwing up into a bucket is funny to me, I don’t know. I hope it is funny to someone.

Merlin’s not sure what did it. He’d never intentionally feed the Prince something to make him sick, even if the thought had-on occasion, when Arthur was being particularly bratty- crossed his mind. 

But whatever it was that caused it, when Merlin entered his master’s chambers to begin his duties for the day, he was startled to discover Arthur was awake, which was shocking enough on its own, and violently vomiting into a chamber pot.

“Oh . . . oh, no.” Merlin let out with a grimace and tentatively stayed back several paces. 

He didn’t know what he was supposed to do in this circumstance, and he didn’t want to piss the Prince off while he was ill. 

“It’s been like this all morning,” Arthur said, once the vomiting had stopped, his voice coming out hoarse and gravelly, “Since before the sun was uh-“ he paused, and retched, his throat gurgling, thinking he was going to throw up again. But then it seemed to go away. “Up.” The warrior finished.

“. . . is there anything I can do?” Merlin inquired, hesitantly.

“You could get me some damn water so I could stop tasting my own bile.” 

Merlin cursed himself for not thinking of that. This was going to be a rough day. Arthur was difficult enough to be around even in a good mood.

—————————————————————

“And you’re sure you didn’t get drunk last night?” Merlin asked, for what felt like the dozenth time.

“Yes, Merlin! I know what that feels like!”

There was a persistent pain in Arthur’s stomach that simply wouldn’t end. Merlin had given him a tonic that dulled the pain a bit, but the vomiting refused to be kept at bay. 

“I’m going to ask Gaius to take a look at you.” Merlin said, also for what felt like the dozenth time. 

“No-“ Arthur tried.

“Arthur, what if it’s some kind of . . . worm?”

He looked at his servant with a flat expression. “A worm?”

“There are worms that can find their way inside of you and they can grow to be as long as a lance, it happens.” Merlin insisted.

Arthur stared at the other man for a moment, considering these words. 

“Alright, fine.” He agreed.

He didn’t, of course, think there was a worm inside of him, but now he was spending far more time considering the concept than he’d have ever liked to.

_______________________________________

“Well,” Gaius began, after Merlin brought Arthur to the physician’s chambers and the old man had just finished examining Arthur. “The good news is, it seems that you’ve just eaten something a bit off.”

Arthur looked at him. “That sounds like there’s bad news.”

“The best way to cure it is to continue vomiting it out. I have tinctures that can help that along.” The old physician informed him. “Merlin, would you go fetch the essence of bloodroot?” 

Merlin nodded and went across the room to the shelves of bottles and herbs. 

Arthur let out a soft groan. “When will the pain go away?” 

“There’s no guarantee, sire, but hopefully shortly after you’ve gotten whatever it is that’s made you ill out of your system. Do you have any idea what that might be?”

“No . . . Merlin must have failed to realize something was spoiled in dinner last night.” 

As the prince mentioned this, his servant walked over, holding a dark brown substance in a small, glass vial. 

Gaius took it from the boy, and poured a small drop into a small, metal cup. 

“We wouldn’t want to use too much, this is an extremely powerful emetic.” the old man said, handing Arthur the metal cup. 

Arthur took it, and hesitantly gulped it down. The water had a vile, bitter taste to it, despite it being such a small drop that was poured in. That alone was enough to make him expel the contents of his stomach already. 

“I won’t be able to train today, will I?” the prince realized.

“Probably not-“ Gaius started.

“Not unless you wanna spew across the field.” Merlin snickered, clearly thinking he was very clever for that. 

Arthur glanced at him. “Thanks for your input, Merlin.” He stated, flatly.

“Oh, don’t mention it.”

_______________________________________

When they had gotten Arthur back to his chambers, he was almost immediately on his knees over a bucket again.

“I don’t understand how you can still have anything left!” Merlin said, awkwardly patting his back, not knowing what else to do.

“Shut up, Merlin.” Arthur breathlessly complained before gagging.

Merlin’s concern outweighed any comedy he might find in this situation, though he’d surely laugh when this was all sorted out and Arthur wasn’t throwing up his guts anymore. 

“Uh-,” Merlin stammered. “Let me know if you see anything . . . unusual in there.” 

“Unusual?!” Arthur questioned, bewildered, covering his mouth with his fist.

“Like . . . Blood, or . . . worms-“

“Stop it with the worms!” He sounded tougher than he did this morning.

Then, there was a knock on the door. Merlin cursed and went to the door, opening it a few inches. Morgana was outside of it. 

“Is Arthur there?” She questioned in her gentle, rolling accent.

“Uh-well-“ Merlin’s words were interrupted by Arthur retching and vomiting again, the sound of it splashing against the bucket following suit.

Merlin gestured his head back, in a pointed way, to indicate that answered her question. 

“Oh, dear. Is he alright?” The King’s Ward asked.

“We think he’s going to be fine, we’re just waiting for it to pass, but I don’t think he wants to see anybody.” Merlin told her.

“Oh, of course. Let me know how he is later.” She said, flashing a dazzling, caring smile, before striding away, her dress swishing behind her. 

Merlin shut the door and went back to the Prince.

_______________________________________

By the late night, the sickness seemed to be mostly gone. The vomiting had ceased and the pain had faded away, so now there was only a dull ache left in the warrior’s stomach. But he was upset that he missed an entire day he could have been spending doing more productive things than kneeling on his floor and laying curled up on his bed. Arthur always hated missing a day of training. 

He had missed dinner as well, because Arthur had felt too ill then. 

The prince was standing by the window, leaning against the stone window frame. It was 10 pm now and Merlin was still working in his chambers, and Arthur knew he should have been off a while ago. In fact it looked like he was running out of things to do because he was dusting the top of his wardrobe for the second time now.

“Merlin, you can go home now.” He assured him.

“I know . . . I wanted to make sure you’d be okay.” The servant admitted. 

Arthur stepped away from the window and looked at him. Merlin had a big heart, he’d be stupid not to realize it. 

“. . . well. I’m okay now.” He said, quietly. 

The only sound in the room was the occasional flickering of the candles and the crickets from outside, which could be heard through the cracked window. It was especially hot these last few nights. 

Merlin nodded. “Good. I’m glad. I’ll-uh. I’ll go home now.” And then he began to leave, his boots padding against the stone tiles. 

“Goodnight, Merlin.” Arthur told him, as the door was opened.

“Goodnight, sire.” Merlin replied, with a painfully earnest smile, and his hand on the doorknob.

Then the door was swung shut, and Arthur was alone.

**Author's Note:**

> Also I had to look up plants that made people sick so please appreciate all the hard work that went into my King Arthur food poisoning fic.


End file.
